The present invention relates to container sealing machines and more particularly to an improved closure cap pickup or cap applicator for use in straight line sealing machines for applying closure caps to moving containers.
Container sealing machines, known as straight-line sealing machines, carry filled but unsealed containers beneath a cap feeding means where the closure caps are pulled onto and lightly applied to the container mouths preparatory to a final sealing. Such sealing machines are now being operated at increasing speeds and this improved pickup allows continuous thread closure caps to be correctly applied at significantly increased sealing machine operating speeds. For example, straight line sealing machines have been normally run for many years at average sealing speeds of a magnitude of about 300 containers per minute. Even at these speeds, the cap application has occassionally been unsatisfactory due to the caps being fed in a tilted or cocked position resulting in sealing failures and inconsistent cap application and removal torques.
The improved pickup of the present invention has been successfully run with continuous thread caps at speeds in excess of 1,000 containers per minute with an insignificant number of cocked or tilted closure caps and with consistent cap application torques.
The closure cap pickup, for example, provides for improved operating results over an earlier pickup design as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,534 owned by the assignee of the present invention.
The improved cap pickup in accordance with the present invention has a novel floating mounting for its closure feeding cap guide allowing the closure to seek the natural center of the container finish. Additionally, the cap rotating means for lightly turning the caps onto the container threads comprises one or two improved moving belts or similarly acting cap rotating friction shoes having floating mountings. The improved pickup provides for better centering of the closure caps on the container finishes regardless of minor imperfections in the containers and also provides for a more positive handling of closure caps as they are removed from the cap feeding chute and are carried into the cap applying belts or other means by the moving containers.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved cap applicator or pickup for threaded or lug caps.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved sealing machine cap pickup capable of operating at significantly increased machine speeds.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved cap pickup giving consistent cap application torque values and reduced cap cocking at higher operating speeds.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sealing machine cap pickup with improved cap control and cap centering on the containers as the caps are carried from a cap feeding chute onto moving containers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved high speed cap applicator particularly adapted for use with continuous thread closure caps.
Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.